Post by sockhands on Nov 8, 2014 18:12:34 GMT
Hey guys,
Rereading the rules for Instinctive Fire, I think it identifies the discrepancy between the rules for MCs and the rules for the Sporocyst and Tyrannocytes. The first line of Instinctive Fire states: "Each weapon on this model automatically fires at the nearest enemy unit within range and line of sight."
Outside of the clarifying sidebar, this seems relatively clear that the actual Spore doesn't fire, but the weapons themselves do. If you also look at the sentence "The shots are resolved at the end of the Shooting phase before Morale checks are taken" and consider closely, it reads much like a special ability that happens to occur during the shooting phase rather than a shooting attack made by a unit, like the Doom of last edition. It's not a Special Rule that modifies the way a target's shooting attack is resolved, it's a special rule outside of the regular rules which determine how a certain unit type shoots. Consider how this Special Rule might be included on a blob of Infantry or Vehicle.
With that in mind, it unfortunately opens up the idea that the Sporocyst or Tyrannocyte does in fact block line of sight to the guns, as it's not the actual model firing, it just happens to be the model carrying the things that fire.
It goes without saying that GW could have made this a lot clearer with one clarifying statement included so that an exercise in semantics isn't required to figure out how this model works, but I do believe the specifics of the mechanics are in there, however hidden. Unfortunately, this kind of cloudy precedent has obviously been set by GW in regards to these strange conundrums where things aren't as clear as they imply, e.g. Pyrovore explosion, FMCs being hit by blasts, etc.
Does that help? Or did I just (please do not swear) in a can of worms?
TL;DR: Carefully reread the Instinctive Fire special rule.
Rereading the rules for Instinctive Fire, I think it identifies the discrepancy between the rules for MCs and the rules for the Sporocyst and Tyrannocytes. The first line of Instinctive Fire states: "Each weapon on this model automatically fires at the nearest enemy unit within range and line of sight."
Outside of the clarifying sidebar, this seems relatively clear that the actual Spore doesn't fire, but the weapons themselves do. If you also look at the sentence "The shots are resolved at the end of the Shooting phase before Morale checks are taken" and consider closely, it reads much like a special ability that happens to occur during the shooting phase rather than a shooting attack made by a unit, like the Doom of last edition. It's not a Special Rule that modifies the way a target's shooting attack is resolved, it's a special rule outside of the regular rules which determine how a certain unit type shoots. Consider how this Special Rule might be included on a blob of Infantry or Vehicle.
With that in mind, it unfortunately opens up the idea that the Sporocyst or Tyrannocyte does in fact block line of sight to the guns, as it's not the actual model firing, it just happens to be the model carrying the things that fire.
It goes without saying that GW could have made this a lot clearer with one clarifying statement included so that an exercise in semantics isn't required to figure out how this model works, but I do believe the specifics of the mechanics are in there, however hidden. Unfortunately, this kind of cloudy precedent has obviously been set by GW in regards to these strange conundrums where things aren't as clear as they imply, e.g. Pyrovore explosion, FMCs being hit by blasts, etc.
Does that help? Or did I just (please do not swear) in a can of worms?
TL;DR: Carefully reread the Instinctive Fire special rule.
